Pet pronunciation hates

[xilman]

Originally Posted by Visu

How DO you pedal backwards?

By rotating the feet in the opposite direction from when you're going forward, of course.

Have you never ridden a fixed-gear bicycle?

Paul

[R.D. Silverman]

Originally Posted by ewmayer

Perhaps that was for lack of a suitably catchy slogan, e.g. "We put the 'See Da Fecal' in C Difficile".



Note that the short leading I *only* sounds good in the adjective form, not the noun. I guess my preference in these kind of cases is toward the proonunciation that 'works' with the most variants of the word in question - a kind of "consistency' criterion.

Couple comments/questions on other PP issues:

- For some reason, I've always detested the U-spelling of min[u,i]scule - completely arbitrarily, since spelling it like minUte is just as sensible as spelling it like minIature. I think my dislike is that the resulting pronunciational issue is worse with the u-form: do you pronounce it min-yoo-skyule or min-uh-skyule? [Both of which sound st-yoo-pid to my ears].

- Preferred pronunciation of "lived", as in "short-lived": I've always hated the long lIved here, can't say why.

I have always disliked the misuse of the word 'unique'. Too many
people thinks it simply means "rare" or "unusual" and qualify it with
some adjective; e.g. "very unique". An item is either unique or it
isn't.

A second peeve is the expression "whether or not". The "or not" is
strictly redundant. One need only say "I asked him whether he was
going", and not "I asked him whether or not he was going".

A third peeve is the misuse of pronouns that are used as the subjects
of an objective clause. People say "I don't object to him going", whereas
proper grammar requires that the pronoun be put into the possessive:
"I didn't object to HIS going".

I can often make a fairly good estimate of the level of a person's
education and intelligence based on their use of proper vocabulary and
grammar after hearing them speak for a few minutes

[Visu]

Originally Posted by xilman

By rotating the feet in the opposite direction from when you're going forward, of course.

Have you never ridden a fixed-gear bicycle?

Paul

Nope.Only ones with free wheels.

[Visu]

Originally Posted by R.D. Silverman

I have always disliked the misuse of the word 'unique'. Too many
people thinks it simply means "rare" or "unusual" and qualify it with
some adjective; e.g. "very unique". An item is either unique or it
isn't.

http://grammarpolice.org/tag/unique/

[ewmayer]

Originally Posted by Visu

Nope.Only ones with free wheels.

I'm jealous - I had to pay through the nose for my carbon fiber disc wheels. In retrospect, I should have remained a spokesperson.

As to Bob's note re. "unique", a similar form of abuse frequently takes place with "optimal".

And don't even get me started on latinate plural abuse, e.g. "the media is,", "the data shows," et cetera. I realize I should learn to let these slide without any reflexive raising of the grammatical hackles, but I just can't. I consider learning proper grammar to be a crucial part of a well-rounded education. I think I was born at least 100 years too late, alas.

[xilman]

Originally Posted by ewmayer

And don't even get me started on latinate plural abuse, e.g. "the media is,", "the data shows," et cetera. I realize I should learn to let these slide without any reflexive raising of the grammatical hackles, but I just can't. I consider learning proper grammar to be a crucial part of a well-rounded education. I think I was born at least 100 years too late, alas.

Don't get me started on latinate plural non-use. As far as I can tell, the rot set in in English-speaking North America but it is now widespread. I refer, of course, to people who do not use the correct plurals such as "stadia", "millenia", "radii" and "supernovae".

All hope is lost for those who do not even recognize, let alone use, "octopodes".

I can feel a new thread coming on.

Paul

[only_human]

Or how about the latinate singular non-use. I am especially sensitive to this with data instead of datum.

Also, I want the first vowel to always match the pronunciation of datum.

[S485122]

Originally Posted by R.D. Silverman

I can often make a fairly good estimate of the level of a person's education and intelligence based on their use of proper vocabulary and grammar after hearing them speak for a few minutes

I do not disagree completely but inteligence and education are not the same. One can be illiterate and intelligent and one can have a language perfect regarding grammar and syntax and be a moron. The latter requires more intelligence to detect ;-)

Jacob

[Uncwilly]

Originally Posted by ewmayer

And don't even get me started on latinate plural abuse, e.g. "the media is,", "the data shows," et cetera.

A DJ that I listen to often enough, always uses the correct form when refering to bands. It sounds odd when he says something like "King Missle are in studio".
After listening to him a while saying this, then some band like The Flaming Lips comes in and it sounds odd coming out of his mouth.


What about using podium instead of lectern or pulpit? That one grates on my nerves. I dislike it when a major respected media outlet (like BBC, CBC, NPR, or the one out of Brussels), lets their reporter or anchor use substandard language.

[Visu]

Originally Posted by ewmayer

I'm jealous - I had to pay through the nose for my carbon fiber disc wheels. In retrospect, I should have remained a spokesperson.

Well I got tired of paying for my tires/tyres.

On a totally unrelated note it is amusing how a thread on "pet pronunciation hates" has mutated into one on bad grammar.

[xilman]

Originally Posted by ewmayer

I'm jealous - I had to pay through the nose for my carbon fiber disc wheels.

Should that be: "carbon-fibre disk wheels"?

Paul